Vixen and the wolf
by Lady Xari
Summary: Vixen definitely wasn't your average girl, even for a mutant... NB: some unpleasant themes but I don't think it's at all explicit, rating should be an overestimate rather than underestimate. Possible Logan/Jean, definitely not Cyclops friendly.
1. Chapter 1

First fanfic! (well, first actually written down one)

I'm not entirely sure that I won't be adding more to this, so if there's anything people want to know about the Company that you think I should include feel free to ask and I'll either add it here (making a note when I do) or in later chapters.

Feedback is highly appreciated!

Thanks to Laceylou76 and Certh for your reviews, I've fixed up the overuse of Vixen's name. Certh, I'm not sure what it was you wanted me to explain... I will try to do some more explaining in the next chapter.

--

"Good morning." Called the man.

Vixen groaned, much like any teenager being told that it was time to get up.

"All right, all right… I'm getting up…" she muttered, throwing off the covers and slowly getting out of bed.

"Good morning 'daddy'" She said with a small smile.

"I've told you not to call me that." Said the man, smiling, as he sorted out a breakfast tray on the table.

"Sorry Mr Hayden Darton." She replied pertly.

"None of that." The man mock-reproved her.

"Sorry Hayden." she replied, not sounding sorry at all.

After breakfast it was time for classes. Here she learned what it was like outside the institute, she watched videos, surveillance videos, movies… But none of it was real enough for her.

'"Why can't I just learn this by going outside?" She complained, as she did every time she had one of these lessons, which was every second day…

"Because they will find you. And you won't like what happens if they do." Replied Hayden.

Vixen let the matter drop, for now…

Next she learned about computer spyware and methods of hacking computer systems, unbeknownst to her teachers in this area she actually learned more from them than they meant to teach her, and she had learned even more through the websites they were getting her to practice hacking on… But again they didn't know that. And while they seemed kind, and all this training was for a good cause… There was something at the back of her mind that inclined her to hide things from even these people… There always seemed to be something hidden about them. No one here had clear motives and Hayden himself had been the one who had taught her how dangerous that was. He had meant in terms of enemies, but an 'ally' with motives that you cannot fathom can easily turn into an enemy. Not that this was at all likely here, Hayden treated her like his daughter, a surrogate father for the one who had apparently abandoned her along with her mother.

Vixen punched the bag one last time.

"Good. You are getting there. Soon you'll be ready for your first mission." Said a man from the corner.

"Actually get to go outside?" asked Vixen sourly.

"You know the reasons…" began the man,

"I know, I know." Replied Vixen with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean that I have to be happy about being locked up in here." She added.

"If they find you they will kill you." The man reminded her

"Who are 'they' anyway?" asked Vixen sourly, "whenever I want to do something that you don't want me to do it's 'they will get you' or 'they want me to do just that', I'm getting sick of 'they'!" she said storming out of the gym.

"She's getting to be a handful." Said a man from the shadows beside the other exit.

"Just a usual teenage rebellion." Replied Hayden.

"Are you sure?" asked the other man.

"Fairly, I have children myself." Replied Hayden.

"I hope you are right then. If she finds out too soon..." Said the other man as he walked out another door to the one Vixen had left by.

"I know." Replied the Hayden. "I know."

And Vixen listened…

'Find out what?' thought Vixen suspiciously, 'Time to do some investigating…'

That the company wasn't telling her the whole truth was a given, after all she was only sixteen, but this was implying that there was something they weren't telling her that she wasn't going to like… Was it something they had done? Was it something they wanted her to do…? This 'mission' they were always talking about… what was it? It sounded like they knew what it was… Surely it would be recorded somewhere…


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry this took so long, work and assignments came calling... and then I got the flu just as an assignment was due. That was a lot of fun... or not...

So here it the next chapter finally. I'm not sure about the pacing of this bit, I may have gone a little fast so please, if you want more detail anywhere tell me where and I'll work on it.

--

If I were a mission report where would I be? Thought Vixen, What would I be? Paper or only electronic? Both would leave traces… which ones would be easier to erase? Gloves with the paper files, but surely there would be video cameras… Electronic might work… Particularly if she grabbed copies and looked at them later. So no matter how shocking, or frightening… She wouldn't get caught.

Vixen waited, with difficulty, until she was ostensibly sleeping, she didn't think that they had thermal cameras in her room… and hopefully there wouldn't be ones in her father's office either. Though shadow in the light of the computer would cause some difficulties too… Vixen found some black cloth that she could cover the cameras that she knew were in her father's office. That should cover the light of the computer. And Hayden always had his computer muted; he didn't like the sounds that computers made, so that would cover the sound of the computer turning on… She just had to hope that the cloth would mask the sounds of a running computer enough… Plan set, it was finally time to put it into motion.

Vixen got into the office without any difficulty, she'd been trained to move around undetected, sometimes it was amusing to think that they didn't seem to have considered that she could use the skills they were teaching her against them. She was in luck, the computer was still on… and logged on! She couldn't believe her luck… But this meant that he could be coming back soon… She quickly searched for any mention of the word 'Vixen' on his computer. Carefully specifying his work drive… The drive she had never been allowed to look through, unlike his personal drive. There was a folder labelled "Project Vixen", Vixen didn't bother to check what was on it she just copied it to her USB stick and closed everything. The less time she was on here the less likely it was that she would get caught.

Getting back to her room quickly Vixen turned on her computer, carefully making sure that it wasn't connected to the network.

The first file she opened was entitled 'Personal data' and was enough to convince her that she didn't want to be in the custody of this organization while she read the rest of the information in these files. Within the first few lines she read she had more shocks than any time they had sprung 'unexpected' things on her, like random attacks in the middle of other classes… A few lines later and she knew that she didn't want them to ever be able to replicate what they had done to her…

She had been genetically engineered from two peoples DNA, two people she had never even seen in her life, that probably didn't even know that she existed. Mutants, with abilities that seemed rather powerful... One had half of her 'gifts' the other person had the other half… Her 'parents' hadn't abandoned her… They didn't know she existed… Possibly they weren't even in a relationship with each other… They may not even know each other… And the tests they had run to make this…her… work 'better'… The things they had done… That they'd tried to make part of her… And the initial failure rate… She was not the first 'version' of project Vixen… She wasn't even in the first ten… or twenty… she was version thirty-four… And they had changed to genetic manipulation of pre-existing of fertilized eggs after the first ten… So what she was and what she was meant to be were very different… And then there were the 'corrections'… Records that indicated, in a very off-hand manner, that the procedures where incredibly painful… and very rarely lasted less than a day… No. No one was going to do this to anyone else. No one. Vixen had passed through shock, if she had had time to think about it she may even have concluded that she had passed over the line between sane and insane. The only thoughts she had running through her head were two ideas. She was going to get as far away from these people who had raised her as possible and she was going to make very certain that there was never a version thirty-five.

Vixen carefully and calmly took the USB key out of the computer and plugged her computer into the network. Then she quickly and carefully wrote a virus that hard-wiped the entire computer system. She moved to her bedroom, grabbing only the things that probably weren't bugged. No electronic devices, apart from the USB key. Money, she was going to need money if she was to survive in the outside world…

Calmly she planned her escape, and the minds that were going to have to be stripped of any knowledge of how to do what had been done to her… Then something snapped…

Her entire life had been a sham! The non-calm part of her mind screamed, She had been designed! The company hadn't saved her, they had created her.

All her life they had told her that her parents had given her to the company to get rid of somehow.

Then another thought occurred to her. Hayden… Did he actually care? She had to know… He couldn't be trusted to tell her the truth… So she would have to force it out of him… By going into his mind directly.

No longer was Vixen calm, now all she knew was rage and pain, to escape, to destroy, to _know_.

Waves of destruction flowed out from her as her kinetic ability reacted to her anger… Walking down a corridor suddenly a large group of people came out of a room, they stopped when they saw her, and the destruction behind her. Vixen only had eyes for one of them though. Hayden. The others were thrown into the two side walls, something like the parting of the red sea… only smaller and with people rather than water… Hayden couldn't move. Vixen held him in place.

"You lied to me." Said Vixen, "You aren't going to do that again." She told him as she placed her hands on either side of his head.

Thoughts… She let them all be absorbed by her mind, while her consciousness searched for only one thing…

It was actually there, but the disgust this man had for mutants in general overwhelmed it easily. Yes, he had cared… But not enough. Not nearly enough.

"Goodbye Mr Hayden Darton." She said and threw him into a wall, knocking him out. Then for no particularly good reason she took the wallets of every person in the hall and emptied them of money. She also took Hayden's credit and eftpos cards, she had his pin number after all. "Hmm, they do say that your children exist to empty your wallet…" she mused, "I guess you were something of a father after all."

Then Vixen bashed her way out of the building, destroying everything with little regard for the building's structural integrity. Had she thought about it the building would have been destroyed a lot faster. As it was, she was out of the building before it started really showing. When she noticed, as she glanced back, shrugged and knocked out one of the foundations.

Free.

Out.

Finally.


	3. Chapter 3

Just because you had to wait so long you get two chapters at once, I may even get another one up tonight too, we'll see how it goes I probably have enough drafted for another couple of chapters but I do need to go to work tomorrow so we'll see how much I get done tonight...

--

The building Vixen had just destroyed was some sort of warehouse at the bottom of a heavily forested valley with a single road out, if that's what the winding gap on the other side of the building was… Good, she was heading out of the back… Where ever that led… She suspected that she was gong to find that it was a fenced valley, hopefully the wall wouldn't be too hard to climb. Large holes in fences made her easy to track… Vixen took one final look over the now ruined building that had been both home and prison for the past sixteen years. Part of her was sad to leave, there were some fond memories after all… But, thought the rest of her mind, it was all fake. You know that. Yes, but… thought the first part. Never mind, lets go! Replied the rest of her mind, these trees won't hide us forever!

Now that she was focused on escape again Vixen moved quickly, she needed to get away, somewhere they wouldn't try to get her back if the company actually survived this. Quite frankly she hoped it didn't but was much too practical to assume it wouldn't. It took a while to get through the forest to the inevitable wall, but there were trees on either side of the wall so it wouldn't be too hard to get across. Without touching the wall would be harder but it was possible that the wall was alarmed so they would know what direction she went in… Careful, don't rush, she thought to herself. I need to get away clean as well as fast… It took some work to find a suitable spot, and even the there was going to be quite a fall on the other side of the fence… But it was the best she was going to do…

The fall was as painful as expected but she somehow managed to avoid breaking anything, bruises would fade, broken bones took longer and would hinder her escape. The next thing to do was find somewhere to spend her cash… Which she hadn't even counted, it didn't really matter though, she had Hayden's cards… Vixen carefully looked herself over, her clothes were clean-ish, and seemed unremarkable… But what was she going to say if she was spotted by a passing car when she got to the road? Out for a walk or run might work, but only if she came out near a town of some sort… She slowed up her pace a little as she thought.

Vixen hadn't yet decided when she came out of the forest into a suburban street. Well, that works, she thought to herself moving towards what seemed to be the more main roads looking and listening carefully for what this town was called and where the nearest city was. It didn't take long for her to work out that the suburb she was in was not far from the airport but wasn't as close to the city itself, but for some reason no one wanted to mention what that city _was_. She was going to have to settle with going to the airport to figure it out. Getting to the airport was easier, there was a bus that left every hour on the hour (during the hours of 9am till 5pm) and it was due any minute now according to the bus schedule at the bus stop. Helpfully it also mentioned the fare on the schedule, so she carefully got out exact change.

At the Airport Vixen went shopping, buying two duffel bags, three new sets of clothing, including footwear and jackets. All from different shops around the airport. Then, with cash, she bought a locker with a pin number rather than a key and placed in it one of the bags with a single set of clothes and all the cash she had, and a copy of the USB stick. Just in case she was caught before she found somewhere safe. Then she stripped the cards of cash, taking as much as she could out of all of them. Thinking for a moment, she put an extra 500 in the locker.

Next it was time to start heading somewhere safe, all her life she had been told of 'them', other mutants that would 'do horrible things to her if they caught her'. Now she wondered whether that had been as much of a lie as everything else they had told her. The files that she had skimmed and Hayden's mind had mentioned something about a mutant school, maybe there she could hide long enough to figure out what was real and what wasn't of the things she had been taught. Hayden had even known approximately where it was…

Vixen went back into town and looked through a motorbike/car yard. It didn't take much for her to decide on a motorbike. Using Hayden's credit card she bought a decent one. Nothing fancy, just something that looked like it would stay in one piece for the long trip ahead of her. Then she headed in the direction she understood that Xavier's school was.

Thinking back on it later, she realized that she should have changed her appearance, and used a different name. 'Vixen' was hardly a common name after all… But she didn't think of that… It was only as she watched a movie in the motel she was staying at that she thought of it… Watching the character on the run dye her hair and change her accent… But by then it was too late… Vixen didn't hear the gun… but she noticed the darts in her neck… "Shit." She muttered struggling to destroy the USB stick before she passed out, she succeeded, but only just.


	4. Chapter 4

I will definitely get another chapter after this one tonight, and may get another but I'm about to hit the stuff that I may need to completely re-write, so we'll see...

--

Vixen woke… if that's the right term, she was conscious, yes, but hardly awake… "Using your mutations while drugged won't really be possible. You can't really focus, not enough anyway." Said a voice, one she recognized, this was the man who had been talking to Hayden, who had been worried about her finding out in the first place.

"Hayden thought that we needed your mind. I, personally, disagree. So since his way, and he, failed. It's my turn to try."

"You can't break me Cain." Said Vixen stubbornly as she tried to move so she wouldn't have to see him, only then did she notice that she was actually tied to the surface she was lying on, it wasn't completely vertical though, it seemed to be one of those bed things that she'd seen in hospital programs that could bend in the middle.

Cain looked visibly startled then his eyes narrowed. "Ah, so you read his mind before you killed him."

"I didn't kill him." She protested startled, instantly regretting her defensiveness, when she saw the light in his eyes, she had given him something to use on her. She was going to have to ensure she didn't give him anything else…

"Yes you did. You may not have done it physically but you killed him." He replied callously, Vixen could see it, as if she had been there… She hadn't killed Hayden, Cain had…

"Your own brother…" she said disgusted, he slapped her.

"I was not related to that soppy piece of filth." He said angrily.

Vixen just smiled, "Did I hit a nerve?" she asked innocently. "That must really sting since I'm drugged up and you're at your full capacity…"

"Bitch." He muttered

"Yeah, and?" she asked as if it was a fact he should have known already.

Cain walked out. "We'll see who has the last laugh when I'm done destroying that oh-so-clever mind with pain."

"Do try, I'll tell you when it actually hurts!" she called mockingly.

Cain just growled.

Vixen never remembered the next few days, she remembered that just to spite Cain she never screamed. Not once. And she remembered the pictures of her potential allies that they showed her. That's what she thought of them as anyway, she knew that she was meant to link them with the pain, but she knew who was really responsible and her mind was strong enough to hold that association. Cain, and his bosses were responsible, for all of this. Whoever most of those people were…

It took a while for Vixen to work it out, exactly how long she didn't know, but eventually she learned to turn her telepathy gift inwards and disconnect the physical pain from her mind. This also allowed her to use her other gifts past the drugs and the pain. Now she just had to wait until the right moment. When she could build up enough physical strength to leave. Her gifts would get her out, but only if she could move.

Physical pain was being dealt with physically, but in order to physically move she was going to need to reconnect some parts of her brain to her mind… This was going to take a bit of work… Or it may not be possible at all… She may have to disable things in the room and then move back to full connection and try to move through the pain… Looking at the barrier she had built between her mind and brain she realized that it was an all-or-nothing thing. Either they were completely separate or they were unified… This was not going to be pleasant.

Before she merged again she carefully thought through what had happened last time. Xavier's School is where they expect me to go, but it is also the only place I can think of that I will be safe. If I went the opposite way and waited for their search to pass me by then followed them? She thought. But first a change of identity. Dye hair, change accent, change clothing style… Glasses? –sunglasses? Way she walks/moves? Skin… Tan? Fake tanning solution. But have to be careful not to stick out if at all possible… Or at least be the type that's dismissed as definitely not being someone you want to deal with.

It was at this point that Cain started a new part of his torture regime… Sleep deprivation. It only took twenty-four hours for her brain to reach out to her mind for some way out of this predicament. Usually the body could hold out for three days, but her body had been through too much… It was not going to be easy to do this. Vixen realized that she needed to get out of here now. Her body wasn't going to get any stronger than it was now. But first she needed a name. Something to hang her character on. Something easy. And she needed it now, while she could think. She was under no illusions about how difficult it would be once she merged her mind back to her brain… Keira. That would do. Now to get out of here. Before merging mind and body she exerted kinetic force –hard– in every direction, ripping the foreign objects out of her, causing more damage to her already damaged flesh… But now her mind had merged with her body and was forcing herself to get up, to run. Escape. Pain would be dealt with later.

Vixen wouldn't have dallied in the compound for a second had she not run into him almost as soon as she escaped his torture chamber.

"Cain." She said, her voice full of anger.

"Y-Y-Y-You…" he stammered, he was afraid, this irritated her even more.

"Who gets the last laugh now?" she asked not sounding even the slightest bit sane as she tore him to pieces… molecule by molecule… While the other scientists watched.

"The next person who hunts me will get the same, and again and again until you stop chasing me or your company is destroyed." She warned them. "I'm leaving now. You can let me go or you can die as painfully as he did."

Suddenly there were no more scientists in the hall, and a small pile of cash in their place. She smiled, and left the money right where it was. Learning from your mistakes was part of existing, and she wasn't about to touch potentially trapped money.

Vixen wandered out of the building. It didn't last any longer than the last had, though this time there was no conscious effort to destroy the facility.


	5. Chapter 5

Yup... another chapter... May or may not get chapter 6 out tonight... we'll see...

Oh, and thank you to Laceylou76 and ceilidh-kay for your assistance with the price for motels in the US!

Oh and _-this-_ is telepathy.

--

This time Vixen didn't notice where she was, she didn't care. She only noticed the trees because there were tree roots to avoid tripping over… She stumbled onwards, she couldn't stop until Vixen was Keira… And that was not going to be quick.

She needed to get to her stash without anyone noticing her or commenting.

She needed somewhere to change without anyone noticing or commenting.

And she needed somewhere to sleep without anyone noticing or commenting.

All this as fast as possible, and without passing out from pain and exhaustion.

Oh, and it would have been nicer if it weren't snowing, even if that did make her tracks harder to find.

Vixen didn't remember how she got to the airport, but no one seemed to be staring when she got there so she obviously didn't look as bad as she felt… As far as she could tell she wasn't even getting the careful watching glances of people trying not to be seen to be looking. But this was a airport, surely people were exhausted around here all the time… She was just going to have to hope that no one had noticed her on the way here… She got the bag out of the locker, if she didn't make it this time it wasn't very likely that she would get another chance. She didn't think that her mind would survive if they did anything like Cain had done, not again… But this time she was exhausted and it was more likely that she would make mistakes… Moving to a bathroom she managed to find one of the disabled ones that had it's own mirror, and basin so she could be properly discrete. Only then did she strip off her marginally clean clothing and use the cleanest part of the clothes she had taken off to clean her injuries and the rest of herself while she was at it. Hardly a proper clean, but better than nothing. Only then did she put on clean clothes. Wincing a little at the styles. These were very 'Vixen', white tank top and blue loose sweatpants… with a blue hooded sweatshirt. She was going to have to change this, and soon…

Now she was going to need Keira-style clothes… and hair dye. Different colour was going to be easier than darker or worse, lighter. No more long dark black ponytail, red, as bright as she could get it without bleaching her hair. And shorter, Vixen winced. Motorbike though, Keira consoled her. And Black leather. Black tank top under it… That would do, Vixen never wore black… So very short red hair, Motorbike, Black leather, Black Helmet… Red bike? Asked the Vixen part of her hopefully, Black replied the Keira part. Sorry. Oh well. And piercings, added the Keira part, both ears at least twice, and nose. Piercings? Asked the Vixen part. Piercings. Stated the Keira part. Wait… Vixen part? Please don't let me be partitioning my mind… 'Characterization?' she thought hopefully… 'Hope so, now back to work…' she thought struggling to get her wandering mind back on track.

Need clothes. Vixen bought the items she needed in different parts of the six-story mall that was the airport mall. Buying the dye at yet another part. Piercings happened after changing her clothes… Three hoops per ear and a nose stud later, she went to find and purchase an appropriate motorbike, severely cutting into the money she had… Particularly the 'tip' to make sure the guy didn't need to see any ID or know her name… or get her to write anything… It probably helped that she was wearing her black leather outfit. And had her black helmet.

She was desperately tired, but she was within the range they would be searching… She need to get out of town, as soon as possible… To a motel. To sleep then… Only then…

Vixen was constantly having to drag her mind back to the present, the adrenaline of the bike ride helped, but it wasn't enough in her current situation. And this exhaustion wasn't helped by the need for constant vigilance, both for ice on the road (and to see through the snow) and for them. But there was no way that she was going back again… Physically she might survive… But next time she might not be able to protect her mind… Vixen resolutely pushed away that thought and concentrated on the lights she could see in the distance… a town… 'Gods let them have room in a motel that they're willing to rent this late at night…' she thought to herself. She knew she should get further away, but impaling herself on a tree with the bike would just make her easier to find…

Vixen parked her bike and removed her helmet. Then she wandered into the badly lit office, "A room for the night." She told the man at the counter.

"Single or double?" Asked the bored man at the counter.

"Single." Replied Vixen

"Name?"

"Keira." She replied. The man looked at her then noted the black leather and black helmet and thought better of asking for any other name.

"40 dollars" said the man.

Vixen handed over the cash and the man gave her a key.

"Return it by 11am." The man said and returned his attention to the TV in the corner.

Vixen didn't bother replying she just checked the number on the key and moved her bike over to the corresponding unit. It was a ground floor one, thankfully, she couldn't afford to loose her bike, and she would probably kill anyone who tried, particularly if they woke her up…

Vixen looked around the room, it wasn't the cleanest place she'd ever seen, but it wasn't the dirtiest either… But she was still going to shower in the morning to get any bugs off her after sleeping on that bed… Vixen changed into her old clothes and climbed into bed. She was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow…

Vixen woke, pushing her hair out of her face with a sigh, she needed to cut it off, and dye it… So she pulled herself out of bed and checked the clock, 9.00am… She needed to get moving. Vixen grabbed the pair of scissors from her bag and the hair dye along with a plastic bag. She moved into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed, then she began to cut, carefully but quickly. Short enough not to get in her way, but no shorter than that. Every bit of hair that she cut off was placed into the bag. Then she applied the dye, leaving it in while she cleaned as much of the rest of the room as possible. Leaving the room a lot cleaner than it had probably been in years… Finally she washed out the dye and carefully cleaned the injuries that weren't healing… That wasn't good… They should be healing, or have healed already… Vixen, no, Keira shrugged it off, she didn't have time to waste on questions, she had to move…

Keira got dressed and made sure that there was none of her DNA left in the room or even on the key. No fingerprints. Nothing. Then she returned the key and rode off.

Keira took a bikers route to the School, completely forgetting her original plan of waiting until the search had passed. But even if she had remembered, she had to get there soon or she wouldn't be able to hold herself together… Thankfully there were a lot of bikers riding the route along here. It was a great place to ride, she rode with a few groups, watching for any hint that she was being followed. She wasn't sure whether she was reassured that she didn't see any or worried… Then she saw the darts flying… Hastily she erected a kinetic shield, but that took her attention off the road… The next thing she knew she was face down in the snow and her bike was wrapped around a tree… But where were the people firing darts… Have to get up, have to move. Can't be caught again. Won't be caught again. She began to run. But she knew as soon as she started that her body wouldn't be able to hold out for long, she had to hope that she would be able to get to the school before they caught her… I will kill them before I go back. She thought, knowing that it was true and not being sure that she liked that… All these things in her head… Memories that weren't hers, that dictated strategies… The strategies that her hunters were using… Thank you Hayden. She thought as she carefully chose her route to make things difficult for them.

Keira didn't realize that she'd found the School until she ran into a wall… With a plaque… saying "Xavier's School for Gifted youngsters"… This was it. She was here… And the gate was shut… Vixen didn't want to damage the gate… so she climbed over the wall… Pulling almost every injury she had while she was at it… The fact that she was finally here was like a drug, telling her to relax… But they hadn't agreed to help yet… Vixen forced herself to walk up the drive. She was met by a group of three guys, one was in a wheelchair and that was all she noticed before one of the others spoke.

"Who are you?" demanded a guy in glasses, red tinted ones

"Keira… Vixen…" replied Vixen struggling not to flinch back.

"What are you doing here?" asked the guy in glasses.

"I… I wanted to be safe again…" Vixen replied in a small voice as her injuries began to take their toll, she was going to pass out soon… she could feel it… Huh? What was that? Wait… there was someone trying to get into her head… The one in the wheelchair, identified her mind...

_-You don't want to see what's in there.- _she told the man.

The only reply was a sense of surprise, _-You are welcome here Keira.-_ He told her.

_-Vixen-_ corrected Vixen,

_-Xavier.-_ replied the man in the wheelchair,

"Logan!" cried Xavier just before she collapsed, and the dark one at the back caught her…

"When was the last time you ate kid?" asked Logan as he carried her inside…

"Don't… remember…" replied Vixen, sounding almost confused as she lost consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

So here's chapter 6, I was a little confused when I noticed that this wasn't up, I thought I'd posted it a while ago. Apparently not... Chapter 7 is coming at the same time so that's up now too.

--

"Do you know what happened?" asked Xavier

"Yes, but it definitely isn't pleasant." Replied a woman, "There are large numbers of half-healed scars, indications of broken and dislocated bones and there are indications that her body has been kept just at the brink of failure for days, even weeks, on end. In short she was tortured."

"Who the hell would do that to a kid?" asked Logan, outraged.

'Cain' thought Vixen. 'But at least he won't be doing that again…'

Vixen held the USB stick in her hand… 'And you don't even know what they did first…'

Vixen shivered, she didn't think it was cold in here… That wasn't good. Something was making an annoying sound… What was it? She tried to think past the exhaustion and pain to make out where the sound was coming from at least…

Wait, Of course! One of the machines was beeping… Now to stop it beeping so she could go back to sleeping…

She, slowly and painfully, made her way over to watch the machine print out a graph. Once the printing was finished the beeping stopped.

Since she was over here already she picked up the print-out. Chemical names and levels… it took a few minutes for her brain to work out that it was the chemicals in her blood… There was quite a long list… That explained the cold. Withdrawal effects from the drugs that weren't on the list…

And she was so tired… But awake her body would deal with the drugs faster, and the drugs were probably the things stopping her healing ability from working as well as it should… Or there was the other option… Neutralise the drugs, then her body could deal with the other damages… then she could sleep… Vixen looked at the drugs on the list and isolated the ones she recognised and tried to remember what it took to neutralise them. There were nice organised, labelled bottles beside the machine. She looked at them to help jog her memory about neutralising drugs. She wasn't entirely sure how she knew what drugs would neutralise the ones in her system, it could have been a lesson at the company or it could have been Hayden, he had been a pharmacist among other things…

Each drug she identified as one that would neutralise one of the drugs in her system she checked with against the other drugs in her system, what would aggravate or otherwise interact with the other drugs in her system. Finally she checked which of the drugs she was going to add to her system would interact with each other if she mixed them. This reduced the drugs she could take to two, but that would neutralise two of the more harmful drugs still in her system… Next she checked the levels and what time the sample had been taken, better to be safe than sorry she thought and worked with the assumption that her body had burned off about half of the levels of the drugs in her system. Hopefully this would mean that she wouldn't be adding drugs to the mixture – well, not for long…

'Here goes nothing' she thought as she drank the cocktail. Then carefully sat down and waited for the inevitable pain as the drugs destroyed themselves in her system… When it came it was strong enough to almost knock her out again. She managed to stay just barely conscious so she didn't undo the work of the drugs she'd taken. She sensed someone come in and note the two drug vials beside the printout where she'd left them. Doctor-woman, identified part of her brain, now that the person was identified as someone who didn't mean her harm she ignored the minor commotion that her actions had caused.

"She was very careful. Some of the drugs that would neutralise the ones in her system would have aggravated other drugs in her system, She knew what she was doing, exactly what doses to take. It just would have been better if she had done them one at a time." The woman said.

"She was stupid to try, the condition that she's in." replied the guy with the glasses.

"Will you two be quiet, I'm trying to sleep." Complained Vixen, her head pounding every time the guy spoke.

"Good call kid." Said Logan from the corner making Vixen jump a little, she hadn't noticed that he was in the room…

"That's not helping Logan." Said the guy with the glasses angrily.

"We can discuss that outside Cyclops." Replied Logan.

"After you Wolverine." Said Cyclops.

Vixen started again, but managed to hide it. Wolverine… she recognised that name… She had seen it written… where had she seen that name… Of course! The files… Her, biological, father… Maybe that explained the pull he had on her… and hopefully why she hadn't noticed him come in…

"Before you go back to sleep, how are you feeling?" asked the woman in a soft, gentle voice. Vixen carefully and slowly moved her aching head to see the woman more clearly, the woman's red-tinged hair (not quite as red as Vixen's was at the moment) shone in the artificial light. She was wearing a lab-coat and seemed to be a doctor… So this was the doctor-woman. Interesting. It would be amusing if she was… But that wasn't likely… Both in one go? Not likely. Knowing each other and everything? Not at all likely…

"Not too bad given the circumstances." Replied Vixen, softly, trying very hard not to make her head hurt any worse.

"Oh, I'm Jean, Jean Grey." Said the woman at Vixen's curious gaze.

"Vixen." Replied Vixen

"That's it?" asked Jean,

"Yeah, that is literally the only name I have, like Logan had Wolverine…" she replied, the last part almost under her breath.

"How do you know about that?" asked Jean, sounding startled.

"I know some people who knew him, they told me that I should find him someday." She replied. She didn't mention that these people had been the ones who had done this to her or that they had intended for her to kill Logan… and anyone around him…

"Oh, maybe you can talk to him about that later. You go back to sleep while I make sure they boys don't hurt each other too much." Said Jean with a smile to let Vixen know she was joking, mostly.

Vixen nodded and curled up in her blanket and promptly went back to sleep.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Cyclops? That girl does not need you attacking her every few minutes!" Logan almost-yelled.

"I don't attack her." Replied Cyclops, in the same tone.

"You do." Replied Logan, "And she most definitely doesn't deserve it! What do you have against her anyway? That she showed up here all by herself? You didn't get to go out and 'rescue' her?" demanded Logan.

Cyclops went red, whether from anger or shame was uncertain, "I do not need to 'rescue' every person that arrives here! And I don't have a problem with her!" yelled Cyclops.

"Just every girl?" stated Logan calmly.

Cyclops spluttered, "I do not! And I don't attack her!"

"Yes, Scott, you do. Every move she makes you heap criticism on, it's the same thing as attacking her." Said Jean from behind him sounding more than a little annoyed.

"Whatever this is Scott, deal with it and stay away from Vixen until you do." Added Xavier meaningfully.

"Yes Professor." Replied Scott a little resentfully.

Vixen woke slowly, she could feel her injuries fading as she drifted towards full alertness. Vixen sighed with relief, and sat up. Time to check, she thought to herself. Foggy feeling? No, Cold? No. The drugs were gone then. Good. Pain anywhere? Not as far as she could tell, She could get up without stiffness? She tried, Yes. Move around, and walk without stiffness? Yes, the injuries were gone too, or at least gone enough for her to function. Now she felt a lot better. And that Cyclops-guy was going to feel the edge of her tongue if he was rude to her again. She was not a slightly-more-than-half-dead girl any more… She wasn't sure that she was entirely sane, but physically at least she was fine…

Vixen wandered out of the medical room and wandered up the hall. Noticing a lift she took stepped inside and ended up in a wood-panelled hallway.

Hearing voices she wandered through a entrance-way that looked vaguely familiar… When she went through the front doors she realised that she must have come through here that first day… However long ago that was.

Outside were beautiful gardens and a basketball hoop… and other sporting fields. It wasn't until almost too late that she noticed the ball flying at her head. Reacting on instinct she stopped it and flicked it back along the exact same 'path' it had come to her on. Vixen then had to force herself to push down the instincts that screamed at her to attack the person who had thrown that ball… It took a few moments but she managed to contain those urges. For now at any rate… No one here is trying to kill me, she told herself, so stop trying to kill them.

"Sorry!" called the boy who had thrown the ball (who only just avoided being knocked over when the ball returned)

"That's alright. As long as it wasn't deliberate. Chances are that it wouldn't hurt anyway." Replied Vixen carefully sounding nonchalant, while struggling not to yell at the boy that she could have killed if she'd had less control… Thank goodness she'd waited until she was feeling better to come out here…

"Oh?" asked the boy, obviously offended.

"My definition of pain might be a little different to most peoples." Said Vixen with a shrug. "I'm not quite sure what most people define as painful but a ball, no matter how large or rough-surfaced doesn't really hurt, almost no matter how hard you throw it." She added.

The boy just looked at her. "Riiiight…" he said and went back to his game.

Vixen shrugged, believe her or not it was true.


	7. Chapter 7

So here's chapter 7. After this it's going to take a bit longer as I have now run out of the drafted stuff that I had. So where I used to be polishing and adding bits here and there now I have to write new stuff... We'll see how that goes... Reviews are good things. I like reviews. Particularly any questions about things that don't make sense or things you want explained. Some of it may be stuff that I'm going to explain later but some may not. So if you want to know then please ask and I can make sure that it's explained.

EDIT: Ok, so apparently I spelt Ororo's name wrong but the movie never spells it and the way the professor says it it sounds like Aurora, admittedly maybe Orora but there's definately an 'a' sound at the end in the movie. Shrugs. Thanks to ceilidh-kay for being polite about the correction. For the other person (Who I won't name but you should know who you are) who was particularly rude about the different spelling, I haven't read the comics, that's why this is in the movie section it's based in this world, and as previously mentioned it sounds like Aurora and it isn't written in the credits - I checked - so thats what I had to go on. There was no reason for you to be so rude about it!

--

"Vixen, this way." Said a woman with pure white hair, and young light brown skin…

Vixen walked over to the woman who was standing at the doors to the mansion that was Xavier's school.

"I'm Ororo, otherwise known as Storm." The woman said when Vixen was close enough.

"Vixen." Replied Vixen with a smile.

"The professor felt that for the moment at any rate it would be better if you had your own room rather than being in with the others." Ororo said as she led Vixen past the girls Dormitory.

"Here we are." She said coming to a decent sized room with a large double bed, two sets of drawers, a wardrobe and it's own bathroom. It was at least double the size of her cubicle at the company.

"Nice…" said Vixen appreciatively, looking the room over.

"We want you to be comfortable here." Said Ororo smiling.

"I don't know how anyone could not be." Replied Vixen.

"We found some things that you can wear until you get some more clothes too." Added Ororo. "They're in the wardrobe."

"Thanks!" said Vixen sounding surprised. Vixen took a look in the wardrobe. There were a couple of pairs of jeans, a few T-shirts and a jacket.

"Shoes unfortunately we can't provide but hopefully your current ones will do for now." Ororo told her.

"They'll be fine. Thank you."

Storm smiled and left Vixen to look around her new room.

"Why did you give her a separate bedroom?" Jean asked Xavier.

"Nightmares." Replied Xavier. "She's a kinetic. There is the possibility that being in the same room as her if she's having a nightmare could be really dangerous. So until we know that she's safe to be around she should be somewhere that her nightmares won't affect other students."

"And that's also why she's next door to Logan?" asked Jean.

"Exactly." Replied Xavier with a smile.

"It isn't everyday that we get a student that had been tortured…" said Jean with a shudder.

"Thankfully not." Replied Xavier.

Completely unaware of why she had her own room Vixen marvelled at her surroundings. She had very deliberately waited until Ororo had left the room before jumping on the bed… She had a double bed! It was going to feel huge! 'And nothing like her old room', added part of her mind. 'Exactly'. The rest replied happily. 'There was nothing here to remind her of that.' And for the next while she was going to avoid the lower levels of the school. They weren't particularly similar but they were closer than anything else. 'I'm not ready to deal with that yet.' She knew. 'Later.' She thought. 'But not too much later.'

Vixen changed out of her leather into a looser pair of jeans (not that it was hard to be looser than the leather pants), an a black T-shirt. Keeping only her leather jacket. Then she ventured outside again. This time there wasn't a basket ball to flying at her. It seemed that the current players were more controlled about where the ball was going. Vixen wandered through the grounds passing by groups of teenagers talking or playing games. No one seemed to notice her so she passed on by. She wandered near the entrance to the grounds. Perhaps it was time to do some thinking…

Vixen turned to a quieter corner of the beautiful grounds, or she would have if Logan hadn't chosen that moment to bring in her bike…

Vixen moved over, "Gosh." She said almost sadly.

"What?" asked Logan.

"I really did a lot of damage to my bike when I hit that tree…" replied Vixen.

Naturally Cyclops chose that moment to walk past,

"You did what?" he demanded

"I wrapped my bike around a tree. Do you have bad hearing or something?" She replied slowly with careful articulation as if she were talking to a very young child.

Cyclops spluttered in indignation. Vixen smiled a purely mental smile of glee, she hadn't lost her touch!

"Don't worry, I only do that when I haven't eaten in at least two days, have about forty drugs in my system and am in a hurry. Oh and it was snowing." she said condescendingly.

Then she turned to Logan, "So did you bring it in because it can be fixed? Or did you just want parts from it?" she asked.

"Unfortunately the second option." Replied Logan regretfully

"Pity. It was a good bike." She replied a little sadly.

"Oh, while you're here, the professor asked me to teach you some extra self-defence than the other students get." Said Logan.

"You can try but I doubt you know any more than I do." She replied with a shrug. "And that isn't a good idea Cyclops." She told the other man as he moved closer to her.

He acted anyway. The second he touched her he was moving, and pined to the ground. What part had been kinesis and what had been physical? Only Logan might have been able to tell. But she certainly wasn't pinning him to the ground physically.

"I'm a kinetic Cyclops. Even when my muscles are a tad too sore to pin you I don't have to do it physically. Not that I would actually want to be that close to you anyway." She told him, the last part under her breath, only Logan seemed to hear it and he just smiled and winked at her.

Cyclops spluttered again.

"You really aren't any fun you know. You could at least try to give as good as you get instead of just spluttering like an idiot." She told him as he lay pinned to the ground.

"That's probably enough Vixen." Said Logan a little regretfully.

"I know." She replied in the same tone, releasing Cyclops. "Don't try to prove that you're a fighter to me Cyclops. You don't have even half my training." She added to Cyclops as she walked off with Logan to the garage to work on motorbikes.

"So, you definitely don't need any training in self-defence. You have that covered." Logan commented as they stripped her bike of the still usable parts, his tone conveying that he wasn't going to ask where or even why she had any training at all much less the level that he'd seen. If she wanted to tell him then he'd listen but he wasn't going to ask.

"Yeah, pretty much." Replied Vixen with a shrug, she knew she wasn't ready to talk about any of that yet. She still had too much to sort out in her own head before she could talk to anyone about it.

"So how about a sparring partner?" he asked with a smile as he pointed out a bit of grease on her nose.

"A partner?" asked Vixen startled, she really needed to figure out how he managed to keep doing that, "I'd love one!" she replied excitedly. She'd never really had a sparring partner before, there had always been simulations or set routines, never actual sparring with another human being! This was going to be exciting.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, work and uni raised their ugly heads and suddenly I didn't have any time... As a result I'm posting a chapter that I'm not really very happy with but I had to post something... I will be more prolific later (ie in about two weeks) after my exams. Then I have about three or so weeks when I can sit down and write! I'll start writing the next chapter this week and we'll see what I get done...

--

Vixen yawned contentedly and put down the book a boy in class had suggested that she read. Fiction books were a completely new concept to her. Now she was wondering how she was going to be able to study when there was an actual section of the library dedicated to them. She was just going to have to limit herself to one or two books per week. With a sigh, she moved the book to her bedside table and straightened out the covers. The girl next to him had been right about the best place to read, curled up in bed was warm and cosy and now she was ready to go to sleep all she had to do was turn out the light at her bedside. So that's what she did.

Vixen woke struggling not to scream, throwing off the covers she lurched to the bathroom. But it looked too much like her dream… Outside. There was no outside at the Company. Vixen moved out of her room quickly but quietly. Only once she was outside could she be sure that it was just a nightmare. Memories stirred up by Hayden's knowledge of what had been done to her. She had been drugged so there would be no memory, but there was an underlying distrust of the company that she had instilled within herself every time they had needed to 'change' something. Every time they had betrayed her.

"You ok kid?" asked a voice behind her. Vixen jumped up and spun around, she noticed that it was Logan before she obliterated him, and managed to stop herself.

"Oh, it's you." She said weakly. "Sorry, I'm just a little jumpy."

"That's ok." Replied Logan with a smile, indicating that she sit back down where he joined her.

"Memory dreams?" he asked.

"Yeah." She replied ruefully.

"Where you're back and they're still… Doing unpleasant things and you can't stop them." He added.

"Yeah." She replied, more as something to say than anything else. An expression that she knew what he was talking about.

"I have those." He told her.

"I know." She replied.

"How?" he asked surprised.

"The files mentioned what was done, among other things, and as bad as what was done to me, what they did to you was at least as bad. So it stands to reason that we'd both have nightmares." She replied

"What other things?" asked Logan suspiciously.

Vixen started a little, 'Oh, I said that bit out loud…' she thought to herself… 'I was going to tell him eventually… It may as well be now…

"Not much…" she prevaricated…

"What files?" he asked.

"The ones I have from the company." She replied. 'How do you tell someone that his genetics were used to create you, that he was essentially her father?' she thought…

"Why would the company have files on me?" He asked himself aloud, obviously confused.

"Because you were one of their projects. You had the same purpose as I did. And you had abilities that they wanted in me." She replied softly.

"Because you and another mutant are the genetic basis for me…" she added.

"Genetic basis?" asked Logan, not understanding.

Vixen looked at Logan. "Your DNA was used to create me." She prompted.

Still he just looked blankly at her. 'Perhaps it was too early in the morning to spring something this unexpected on him without spelling it out.' She thought.

"Biologically, in a rather indirect way…" she began. "You're my father." She told him.

Logan looked at her in disbelief.

"How many other children do I have?" he asked her slowly.

Vixen couldn't help herself at this… The memories of discovering the answer to this coupled with the rather explicit memories of Hayden's about each and every version… Vixen burst into tears.

Logan gently drew her into a hug.

"They had difficulty melding DNA." She told him through her quiet sobs. "There were always serious genetic faults. So many never lived at all. They weren't included in the count of versions. Later they found other faults. Mostly my siblings were insane. They couldn't control the abilities gained from my 'mother'. I am version thirty-four." She told him slowly.

After the two of them had cried themselves out they headed back to Logan's room.

"We won't be disturbed in here." He said closing the door as Vixen sat on his bed.

"Did you come to the institute with the intention of finding you 'parents'?" asked Logan.

"No. I came here because all my life I was told not to. I was told that a mysterious 'they' wouldn't like or accept me." She replied. "When I left the first time I… Read the mind of one of the people who had basically raised me. From him I found that it was likely that the opposite was true. But more importantly I found that the Company would not be able to get me back from here."

"That wasn't what you were looking for in his mind was it?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"No. I wanted to know if, all the time he was acting like my father, he ever actually cared about me." She replied sadly.

"Did he?" asked Logan

"Yes, but not enough. He hated mutants with a passion, he hated me more than he could ever care about me." She replied.

"If he hated mutants so much why was he working there?" asked Logan.

"Because of what I was created for." She replied. "You and I were created for the same reason."

Logan looked thoughtful for a moment then horrified.

"Yes." She replied. "We were created to be weapons against mutants."

"And now we've switched sides." He said with a smile.

"Only sort of." She replied "To completely switch sides we'd have to be actively against the so-called 'normal' humans."

"Good point."

"I know." She replied pompously. Eyes sparkling.

Logan laughed, Vixen joined him shortly after.

"Well then, since you are my daughter and I don't even know you how about we have a father-daughter motorbike fixing session every second day?" he suggested.

"Sounds fun." She replied enthusiastically.

"That's settled then." He replied just as enthusiastically.

"Oh, one more thing, could we not mention the whole father-daughter thing for a bit?" she asked.

"Why? Wait. Your 'mother' is here too isn't she?" he asked.

"Yes, and I'm not quite sure how to tell her…"

"Who?…. Jean… Jean is your mother isn't she?"

"Yes. And she's married." She replied, "Not that I particularly care about hurting Cyclops but it won't be pleasant for her to find out that she has a child with someone that isn't her husband…"


	9. Chapter 9

Um... Yeah... So I kinda forgot this existed... I will try to finish it in the next week if possible... But I've said that before... This chapter was sitting in the folder and I apparently hadn't put it up yet... It may change when I figure out whether I had finished it or not...

* * *

Vixen woke to a small, but persistent, beep from her bedside table. For a minute she had a very strong feeling that she had been dreaming of something that it was imperative she remember… But it was gone. With a sigh she checked the clock. 6:00am. Time for her morning sparring session with Logan, she thought with a smile. Vixen only a little reluctantly got out of bed and found some clothes to work out in.

Vixen met Logan in a small grassy area with a piece of rope around the edges.

"The Prof would prefer we didn't break any plants." Explained Logan.

"Then how bout I shield? I can put a sort of bubble that'll stop us from leaving." Suggested Vixen

"But more importantly it'll stop people wandering in." he replied smiling approvingly.

"That too." She said returning the grin.

Vixen closed her eyes for a second or two. "Done." She said as she organised her mind so that the shield wouldn't break even if she was momentarily distracted.

She'd have to consciously take it down.

"Don't knock me out or you'll have to wait till I wake up to get out." She joked.

Halfway through her sentence she felt him start his attack. Her Kinetic ability gave her a sense of everything around her, if she was calm enough to appreciate it. Without conscious thought her body was moving. Forms and patterns of attack flicking through her mind fitting themselves to Logan's actions. Sparring was only partially mental work. There was a large element of ingrained reactions to the opponent's smallest muscle movement as well. Sparring like this though, this was different. Patterns were broken and bent and rearranged in a way the simulations had never achieved. This was much better than a simulation. Far more fun. 'And no peeking' she told her mind as it started to try to see what he was going to do next. This was to be sparring with only physical abilities. No powers. Vixen dodged a punch and carefully flicked her own back. He was good. Very good.

To an observer it would have been obvious that the pair were evenly matched, His strength balanced by her speed. But both moved with an amazing grace, it was almost as if this were a perfectly choreographed dance. But the observer didn't care about how good they looked. Nor was the observer particularly interested in Logan at all other than to note the similarities between himself and the girl he sparred with. 'She's his daughter all right. That's clear.' Thought the observer. 'But it is just as clear, to anyone with eyes, that Vixen is _her_ daughter. Did they honestly think I wouldn't see it? How could she do this to me? How could she think to hide this from me. No wonder he treats me like a joke. That's what I am to them both. They thought I wouldn't notice. But I have. Now all that remains is to decide what to do about it.'

Inside the shield neither of the sparring partners noticed their observer. As they both began to tire. Now this was an endurance competition. It wasn't going to stop till one of them landed a punch. Or the buzzer went off saying they needed to get ready for their respective classes…

Their worlds had narrowed to block, punch, block, feint… *BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-BEEP* screamed the buzzer in the corner. Both Logan and Vixen stared at it stupidly for a minute until Logan turned it off (By putting his claws through it). Vixen took down the shield. "I need a hot shower." She said moving slowly.

"Good plan." Replied Logan.

"If I weren't so tired I'd move us up to our rooms… But I don't have enough concentration to do that…"

"Don't bother, we need the warm-down anyway."

"True."

The two of them slowly walked back to their rooms. Eventually regaining enough strength to converse…

"So have you thought about how you're going to tell her yet?" asked Logan.

"No, well, I've thought about it but I still have no idea about how to do it. With you it just, came out. But you aren't married…" she replied with a sigh.

"Doesn't make it easy." Commented Logan

"Oh, I know, believe me. But it's harder with her being married…" replied Vixen.

"I know Kid." Replied Logan with a smile. Vixen smiled back.

Then they were at their rooms. "Shower, then class, then working on the motorbike tonight?" asked Vixen

"You got it Kid." Replied Logan with a smile.

"Cool, see you then." She said as they entered their rooms.

Vixen thought more about her dilemma as she let the hot water ease any tense muscles. How do you tell someone that they (genetically) have a child with someone who was not their husband. Particularly when everyone knew that there was an almost relationship between her and Logan? One that only the fact that she was married when she met Logan had decided the outcome? It was very clear that neither would act on their feelings for each other, they both had too much respect for each other and Jean had too much respect for Cyclops. Though she didn't see what her 'mother' saw in the man…She shrugged as another buzzer went off. Time she was out of the shower. She got out of the shower and turned off the alarm. Clothes. She really needed to get some more of those… Living on two sets of someone else's clothing was starting to get annoying. But she had discovered that she liked Jeans and some of the clothing on her classmates had gotten her interested in what she could wear… She looked at the clothing… At the company they had told her that she had the ability to manipulate things at the molecular level… Did that mean she could turn her current clothing into something else?

Vixen shrugged. She wasn't going to experiment on the few clothes she had just to see whether it worked. Maybe she should ask the professor whether she could go to a mall or something. Just her and one of the teachers. Maybe Jean…


	10. Chapter 10

This chapter and one more tonight, I'll see how much more I can get done this week. I may even finish it.

* * *

Vixen watched the groups of girls strut through the mall with a hidden smile.  
_-I always thought that the movies were exaggerating that.-_ She thought to Jean.  
_-No, unfortunately not.-_ Replied Jean, sounding amused.  
_-Does it work?-_ asked Vixen  
_-Does what work?-_ asked Jean  
_-Does it actually attract males' interest in the way that they want it to?-_ asked Vixen  
_-Not really.-_ replied Jean with an added piece of mental explanation that didn't need to be stated. The boys only wanted sex, just like most males of the age they were trying to attract.  
_-So they're just trying to sell themselves in a different way then.-_ replied Vixen with disgust.  
_-Basically.-_ replied Jean.

Jean and Vixen were relatively efficient in finding clothing for Vixen, Jeans in varying styles and some nicer t-shirts and singlets. And Shoes… For the second time in her life Vixen owned shoes that weren't sneakers. Most of which were paid for with the remainder of her money from the company.

"That looks better. Now you're Vixen rather than trying to hide." said Jean  
"Now I'm able to discover who Vixen is." replied Vixen, was it now? Could she tell Jean now? but how? what words do you use to tell someone that they are something like your mother…? particularly when it means that you also need to tell her who your father is… and that father isn't her husband…  
"And you will be able to keep discovering who she is." replied Jean almost absently as she noticed a particularly pretty pair of shoes.  
Vixen noted her attention with a purely mental sigh, it had been like this all day, so close to being the right time and then their attention was claimed by the pretty articles of clothing they were surrounded by. It was almost the right time then it wasn't anymore and Vixen had missed another opportunity. Almost as if there was something deliberate, as if there was a conscious attempt not to discuss anything… wow, that pair of shoes was pretty…

Eventually it was time to go back to the school. Vixen very carefully didn't think of it as the 'institute' as others did, 'institute' was too close to 'company' and felt too much like she had traded one company for another.

"Today was fun." said Jean on the trip back.  
"It was." replied Vixen  
"We should do it again sometime, it is so nice to get away from everything and just relax." commented Jean.  
Suddenly Vixen understood, Jean had been stopping any hint of deep conversation on purpose, because today had been supposed to be getting Vixen away from anything that needed thought. Vixen sighed a purely mental sigh of frustration. She was going to have to find another time to talk with Jean…

* * *

"So how did it go with Jean?" Logan asked her later that afternoon.  
"I didn't tell her." Replied Vixen with a frustrated sigh, "Unfortunately for me she had decided that today was going to be a day without deep discussions where we were just relaxing." Vixen explained  
"Ah. Which would have been good except that you needed to have a serious discussion with _her_." Replied Logan  
"Exactly." Replied Vixen, "And now I'm going to need to figure out when to tell her before someone else notices the similarity in physical appearance and points it out."  
"Particularly if they point it out to Cyclops." Replied Logan. Vixen paled a little,  
"That would be bad, the guy is too much of an idiot to deal with that information with any tact." Replied Vixen. "Lets hope he doesn't find out before tomorrow. I'll see if I can have a serious conversation with her tomorrow morning." She continued.  
"Why not this afternoon?" asked Logan,  
"She said she was going to spend some time with Scott this afternoon. Apparently he's feeling a little left out or something." Vixen replied with a shrug to indicate that she didn't really care, but it was something that Jean wanted to do.  
"In place of our morning sparring session?" suggested Logan, " she's usually free at that time."  
"That would be good, I will be sorry not to have the session but this is more important, if she found out the wrong way it would hurt her, and I really don't want to cause her pain, even indirectly."  
"Good luck. See you later this evening for motorbike fixing." said Logan as Vixen got up to leave.  
"See you then, after homework." replied Vixen with a smile


	11. Chapter 11

Cyclops had made his decision. He had watched the father and daughter sparring and it was clear that they were aware of the relationship. So obviously Jean was hiding this from him. So he would have to confront her about it. Cyclops headed to their room and waited for Jean to return after her mother-daughter shopping trip with Vixen.

Jean was pleased with her mornings work, she had felt Vixen relax, and after what Jean knew she had been through the girl definitely needed it. It was also very comforting that there had been no incidents with the people that had been the girl's keepers through her childhood.

* * *

Jean entered her room with a sigh, it had been a long day. Scott was sitting on the bed. "Did you enjoy your mother-daughter bonding day?" he asked sourly.  
Jean dropped the bag she had been holding in shock, "What?" she asked confused.  
"Your day with Vixen, your daughter." Repeated Cyclops  
"Vixen isn't my daughter…" said Jean confused  
"Now you're lying to my face. It's obvious the girl is your daughter, just as it's obvious who her father was. Even if it weren't so clear physically she even has both his _and_ your gifts to prove the matter." He replied angrily.  
"Scott, What are you talking about?" demanded Jean, this was not like Scott, this was not the man she had married… As she had told Logan so long ago, this was supposed to be a good guy…  
"So _this_ is why you don't like Vixen? Because you think she's my daughter?" asked Jean incredulously, "Scott, if Vixen was my daughter I would have told you."  
"Well why don't we go see Vixen and you can try to deny the evidence to her face." Demanded Cyclops, grabbing Jean by the elbow and dragging her out the open door and down the hall to Vixen's room.

Cyclops opened the door forcefully. Vixen looked up from her books.  
"You." Said Vixen derisively, "What the…" then she noticed Jean who had just pulled herself from Scott's grasp.  
"Tell her that you're not her mother." Scott said to Jean.  
"Cyclops you are a right royal idiot." Said Vixen. "Jean… He may be an idiot but he is partially correct…." Vixen added slowly. This really wasn't how she wanted this to happen…  
"What?" Jean asked, shocked once again.  
"Why don't you sit down." Suggested Vixen indicating that Jean join her sitting on the bed, then she looked over at Cyclops "You can stay at the door, but close it." She told him harshly. "And shut up." She added.  
"Jean…" Vixen began when Jean had joined her on the bed. "I imagine this has been rather confusing."  
"More than a little…" replied Jean. Vixen noted that Cyclops was finally paying attention to how confused Jean looked about this mess he'd made of things.  
"You know a little about me and where I come from, well the Company that created me did so looking for specific powers. One of those powers was healing, which they had encountered in a previous experiment that for the moment is irrelevant. Then they heard of telekinesis and telepathy and thought they would make good additions. They had some genetic material from a mutant with healing powers so all they needed was telekinetic and telepathic. Somehow they found both in one mutant. Better yet a _female_ mutant to match the male they had genetic material from. They found her genetic material, somehow, and used it to create me." Vixen explained.  
"So two people who had never met were used to create you?" asked Jean  
"Exactly." Replied Vixen. "And both of them are in this school."  
"Logan… and… Me?" asked Jean after a bit of thought.  
"Yes." Replied Vixen. "I spent most of today trying to tell you but I couldn't find the right way to do so." Said Vixen apologetically.  
Jean looked over at Scott, "You thought I knew." She said looking very hurt.  
"I didn't see how you could not know." He replied  
"You've known me since childhood, when exactly did you think I managed to conceive her?" demanded Jean angrily.  
Scott looked stunned, it was clear that he hadn't thought of that.  
"How _dare_ you assume that I would lie to you like that? How could you possibly believe that of me?" demanded Jean as she realized what Scott had thought of her.  
"How could you believe that I was capable of doing that to you?" she added, her horror clear on her face.

While Jean continued on that vein, Vixen carefully made mental contact with Logan,  
_-Sorry to interrupt, but Cyclops has found out about Jean and is making a mess of things-_ Vixen told him apologetically,  
"Is she alright?" asked Logan  
_-She's going to need some comforting, but it might be more diplomatic if I comfort her… Oh, don't beat Cyclops up, he's going to do that far more efficiently to himself. Plus he's not worth that much of your time.-_ Vixen replied watching Scott's pathetic attempt to defend himself, his only point seemed to be that he was afraid of loosing her so stopped thinking… At that line Jean delivered her final line in the conversation.  
"You were afraid you'd loose me? You just did. You are no longer the man I married. We're finished. Now get out and stay away from me." Jean told him, kinetically opening the door and shoving him out.

"Jean?" asked Vixen softly.  
"Don't." said Jean, "Don't apologise for not telling me sooner. You tried to tell me, more, you tried to tell me tactfully."  
"I really didn't expect that either of my 'parents' would be here, and not in the complicated situation that you're in…" Vixen said almost apologetically.  
"Don't fret about it." Replied Jean.  
"Do you want to talk about him?" asked Vixen, indicating the door Cyclops had just been thrown out of.  
Jean sat down on Vixen's bed, Vixen joined her.  
"Scott and I were the Professor's first students. It was with them that I learned to use my gifts, that I learned that I wasn't alone in having powers." Jean said simply. "I grew up with him…"  
"And everything was fine until he had a rival for your affections." Said Vixen softly.  
"Basically yes. Before Logan. But competition with Logan, who he couldn't see any use for…" replied Jean.  
"I think the feeling is mutual." Replied Vixen.  
"But Logan handles it better, he respects me enough to keep our relationship at the friendship level. Scott… Isn't that gracious. And has been increasingly showing a side of himself that I don't like, I meant what I said, he isn't the man I married anymore…" replied Jean, finally allowing her tears to flow. Vixen held her mother, sensing for the first time the division in her mother's mind, the separation that blocked so much of Jean's power… Carefully while the conscious mind was occupied with mourning the loss of the man she had known and loved, Vixen planted the seeds that would eventually allow the conscious mind full access and control of her power. The other part of Jean's mind was not a fully formed personality, it was only pieces of personality and the highly controlled Jean would do to at least consider these other parts of her potential personality. But not today. Today the seeds were planted to give Jean the control that Vixen had of their shared power.


	12. Chapter 12

Ok, so I haven't post on this in a while, a really long while... Sorry... I have some more chapters written that I just discovered, and intend to finish this story in the nearish future, we'll see how that goes, I'm hopeless at finishing things, in case you hadn't noticed...

* * *

Once again Vixen dreamed. Memories flitting through her brain. Memories that were not her own. Something important… Failsafe… Chemical… Then the dream was gone. Vixen woke with the vague impression that there was something that she should remember… But this morning she had a meeting with the professor. She got the feeling it had something to do with Logan, Jean and Cyclops.

* * *

"Good morning Vixen." said the professor.  
"Good morning professor." replied Vixen,  
"Have a seat." He said indicating the seat before his desk.  
"I suspect that this situation would give a completely different impression to most of your students." commented Vixen.  
"I imagine so." replied the professor with a smile. "I understand that you know the cause of the disturbance between Jean and Scott."  
"Yes. It unfortunately centres around myself, Logan and Jean. I was created using the genetic material of Logan and Jean Grey…" explained Vixen  
"How was that obtained?" asked the professor.  
"Logan's was easy, the company was involved in creating his metal skeleton. As for Jean's I think the file said something about paying a doctor…" replied Vixen.  
"Very well, carry on." said the professor, not looking happy.  
"Well, Scott got the idea that I was conceived naturally and Logan and Jean were lying to him. Jean was not very happy that Scott could think that of her. To be honest I don't see any way that he will be forgiven for believing that Jean would deceive him like that when, no matter what I look like, there was no time when she could have conceived me." Vixen continued.  
"I see. And what about your relationship with the three of them?" asked the professor.  
"My relationship with Logan and Jean are great, my relationship with Scott isn't great, and I suspect that he's going to blame me for his messed up relationship with Jean, it may be subconsciously, because I was present at the time." replied Vixen with thought.  
"That was my thought as well. I am going to take you out of his class. It isn't really one you needed anyway. In its place I was wondering whether you would like to take a medical biology class with Jean." said the professor.  
"I would like that. Would there be anyone else in that class?" asked Vixen  
"Not yet." replied the Professor.

* * *

The table was the only thing in the room that was lit. The occupants of the chairs surrounding it avoided the light carefully. In front of each seat was a number. Numbered 1 through 9.  
"So Vixen has escaped." said the person at seat 8.  
"Yes." replied the man standing at the foot of the table.  
"And she made it to Xavier's institute?" asked the person at seat 7.  
"Yes." replied the man standing at the foot of the table sounding nervous.  
"And she has now destroyed two highly classified buildings, alerting the authorities of our existence." said the person at seat 6.  
"Yes." replied the man standing at the foot of the table sounding even more nervous.  
"Anything else?" asked the man at seat 5.  
"We know that she read Hayden's mind… and possibly Cain's too." replied the man at the end of the table, sounding as though he wished he could be as far away from the people at the table as possible.  
"And you have a plan to retrieve her?" asked the man at seat 4.  
"Um…. Yes…. Um…. w-ww-www-we…" The man gulped visibly "We would like to use the special unit."  
"Send us a copy of the plans and we will consider it." said the man at seat number 1, at the head of the table.  
"Thank you sir." said the man


	13. Chapter 13

I'm not really sure about this chapter, it feels like this should be longer, but in the interests of getting this story done I will just give you what I have.

* * *

Once again Vixen dreamed… Chemical names flitting through her head… Failsafe… The chemical designed to be her failsafe… Vixen woke with a start. Finally she remembered… This was going to take some careful work… It was going to take a level of power that Jean didn't have full access to yet… Neurosurgery wasn't that advanced yet… Vixen got up and got dressed as she carefully located Jean, and the state of the division of Jean's mind… The other part was stirring… But not in the way it was supposed to… It was trying to find a way to take over, not to integrate… Jean was going to need her help, and soon, if she wanted to retain her mind… The professor's help might be required as well… Vixen carefully located the professor's mind, noting that he was awake…  
_-Professor… I think there may be a problem coming-_ Began Vixen carefully.  
_-What with?-_ asked the professor concerned.  
_-Jean. The partition you placed in her mind is slowly unraveling-_ replied Vixen.  
_-How do you know about that?-_ asked the professor, sounding shocked.  
_-She's my mother. I have her gifts. All_ of her gifts.- replied Vixen.  
_-You know of a way to integrate the parts of her mind while keeping her sane.-_ said the Professor, sounding impressed.  
_-Me.-_ replied Vixen, _-But it will take very careful work… From all three of us for this to work… Which means she will have to be told.-_  
_-How much time do you think we have?-_ asked the Professor  
_-Can't you tell?-_ asked Vixen, confused.  
_-I can't contact that part of her mind, it shut me out when I shut it in.-_ Replied the Professor.  
_-Not much.-_ replied Vixen, _-A day or two, maybe less. But sooner is better.-_  
_-Very well. She is awake now, so let us start this… I suppose that the issues with Scott set this off.-_ Replied the Professor.  
_-Probably-_ replied Vixen. And it probably had, the other had probably sensed Jean's distress and thought of it as weakness, something she could use to distract her enough to take control…

* * *

Jean sat in the small room she had moved into after moving out of the room she had shared with Scott. She wished she had someone she could talk all of this over with, but Ororo was busy with her students, Vixen was only sixteen or so, and Logan… That would just destroy Scott… He had been so certain that she and Logan had a history… She did like Logan… Liked him a lot, perhaps even as much as she liked the man that Scott had been… She certainly liked him a lot more than the man that Scott had become… But she also wasn't sure what would happen if she were to be around him alone… So she had been avoiding him. It wasn't anything to do with him… Well, not as such… She just needed to think… Away from both of them, and the thing with Vixen wasn't really much easier… And all at once… Then she was gripped by a strong headache, as if there was some wall in her mind that something was throwing itself against…

_-Jean-_ came the professor's 'voice', breaking her out of the headache.  
_-Yes?-_ she asked.  
_-Could you join me in my study please? There's something we need to discuss.-_ replied the Professor, then the sense of him was gone.  
Jean gave herself a quick once-over, checking that she was decent before heading to the Professor's study, curiosity warring with confusion at the strange summons so early in the morning.

* * *

Jean entered the Professor's study noting with surprise that Vixen was there as well. What was going on? She wondered.  
"Ah, Jean, Come in and take a seat." said the Professor, his voice giving away nothing.  
"Jean," he began after she had sat on the couch with Vixen. "Jean, I have something to confess to you. A mistake I made with you when you were much younger." The Professor told a completely stunned Jean.  
"Mistake?" she asked looking confused and worried.  
"Yes." Replied the Professor. "Many years ago, when you were about fifteen, your powers became out of control. In my attempt to help you contain them i ended up locking a large portion of your power away from you, along with part of your mind that wanted that power too much to let it go. I had thought to eventually help you work through the barrier I had placed in your mind, but the rest of your mind was too afraid of the power I had locked away, so even though I knew that by leaving it as it was I was doing more harm than good I let it stay. Now the other part of your mind is trying to escape. This is the cause of the headaches you have been experiencing lately." The professor explained apologetically. "I am sorry to have to tell you this now, but your mental confusion about the situation between Logan, Scott and Vixen is causing the other part of your mind to become more active. And this time I will do nothing that you do not wish me to."  
Jean looked stunned, her face flickering from hurt to stunned to lost in rapid secession. Then she looked at Vixen.  
"I'm here because I can communicate with the other part of you." replied Vixen gently. "It doesn't like the professor, but I am something like it, I have it's powers so it will listen to me, if you want it to. More, I am the proof that you may be able to have a single mind again. Whole and undivided. My mind and yours are similar. I am here to show you how I manage the part of me that is like what is behind the Professor's wall." Vixen explained, carefully reinforcing her statement by opening her mind to Jean, completely, so Jean could see anything she chose in Vixen's mind.  
Jean responded to Vixen's offer by carefully inspecting not the content of her mind, but the structure. Vixen's mind was even more organised than her own… And in looking at her own mind in the same way she had been looking at Vixen's she could see the wall she had never noticed before. The wall that took up more space than she thought the professor was aware.  
"How do I do this?" asked Jean slowly?  
"What do you want to do? I can possibly reinforce the wall in your mind, or I can bring it down altogether." asked the Professor.  
"I would like you to bring it down." replied Jean.  
"Very well. When would you like to do this?" asked the Professor.  
"How long will it take?" asked Jean.  
"For us, a day at most, for you? It will depend on the other. She-" replied the Professor  
"No." Interrupted Vixen, "The other is not a being, it is pieces of a mind, not a whole mind. It is emotion, hate, anger and fear. Combined with a complete disregard for others. This is all it is."  
Jean looked at Vixen. "Can you show me?" she asked  
"Of course," replied Vixen, carefully showing Jean what she had seen of the hidden part of Jean's mind when she had first seen it the night Jean had left Scott. Then she showed her how incomplete the other was, showed her how any other emotion would affect it so totally.  
"It is not rational. It never has been. It's probably also part of why emotions are so hard for you to deal with. Every emotion you feel affects the other and that reverberates through the Professors wall." Vixen added. Just as Jean realised this for herself.  
"Once the Professor takes the wall down we won't be able to help you confront it. If we did then we would just be doing more harm than good. But I will stay with you, so you can use my tactics, but it must be you that uses them." Added Vixen.  
"Very well. I think I'm ready…" replied Jean, her voice shaking a little.  
"Have confidence." Advised Vixen. "It is only emotion. It doesn't stand a chance against the full force of you."  
"You're right." replied Jean smiling. "It may not be an easy battle but I _will_ overcome it." she said with a rare confidence.  
Vixen sighed a purely mental sigh of relief, carefully hidden from Jean was the knowledge that if Jean did not believe that she could do this, then she would fail and she would be forever lost and all that would remain would be a creature ruled entirely by the selfish, child-like mind of the other.


	14. Chapter 14

Again I'm not sure about this chapter, I really liked re-reading it but still feel that it should be more for what it is. **Shrugs** here it is anyway.

This is all for todays update, I will see what I can do to write more in the next week... We'll see how that goes...

* * *

Jean felt the Professor's mind enter hers and gently reduce the wall dividing her mind, she felt, and saw, the other part of her mind strike at the professor and Vixen carefully protecting him. Then she felt the other part turn it's 'attention' to her. Now she ignored both the professor and Vixen, both of whom watched, hoping that this would not end badly.

Jean faced the other. Where she had complete and stable form, the other was only a vaguely humanoid fiery shape. This gave her an edge. Jean approached the other before the other could decide what it felt like doing and Jean grabbed the power that the other had control of with one hand and the other itself with the other hand. Holding them separate long enough for the power to be completely separate. Then she turned first to her 'rival'. It was exactly as Vixen has thing was not a mind. It was thoughts, emotions. Which were, now that she had separated them from her power, capable of being separated, felt, and dealt with. The only issue was how many there were. Jean was a creature of pure logic at the moment. All her own emotions had added themselves to the other. So Jean placed her power with the rest of it and both reason and emotion agreed not to touch it until they had sorted the rest of them out. At this point Vixen carefully entered, offering to hold it, as someone that both sides trusted. Both sides agreed to this and ignored both Vixen and the power.

Emotion and Reason battled. There were no names here, gone was the idea of 'Jean' or 'other' that had been present. Memory was not part of this battle. This was only Reason and Emotion, fighting for control. But Memory was also there. And Memory had learned from Vixen that what was required was balance between Emotion and Reason. So Memory carefully sabotaged both sides, keeping things even until both were exhausted, then it moved in and began integration… Gone were the sides that had been Reason, Emotion or Memory. Now there was just "Jean" A whole. Stable. Now Vixen handed back control of Power. Power was carefully integrated as part of Jean, but subservient to all other parts of Jean. Parts which had no names of their own. And never would again.

* * *

"It is done." Said Vixen.  
"Yes." replied Jean. "Thank you." she added meaningfully.  
"Any time. Mother." replied Vixen with a smile. Jean pulled the girl into her arms. All parts of her completely at peace with the fact that whether or not she had given birth to this child, she was truly her daughter.


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry this took so long to get up... again... but I have finally finished so will be adding all chapters up now. Some chapters are better than others, but that's the price I pay for having to press-gang my muse to finish this story. My apologies to those of you who have been reading this for a while, thanks for sticking with me, I hope you like my final chapters...

"Jean? I almost forgot, I need your help with something." said Vixen as the Mother and Daughter sat together in Jean's new room, looking out the window to the garden.  
"Anything." replied Jean.  
"The Company had a failsafe installed, in case I proved to be… Unstable." began Vixen. "The files I have say that it was a chemical called tetrodotoxin. There's apparently a small amount of it in a small sack in the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding my brain. With a small remote that, if they're close enough, will break the sack and kill me." replied Vixen carefully.  
Jean just looked at her.  
"Why didn't you say something earlier?" she asked.  
"I didn't know about it. I found it in the memories I stole from Hayden." replied Vixen.  
"Right, well, let's see what we can do about manipulating that." replied Jean, carefully placing her hands on either side of Vixen's head. Vixen carefully didn't move. Using her own gift Vixen was able to feel Jean's Kinetic senses find the Failsafe and carefully place a kinetic field around it. Then she carefully maneuvered the Failsafe down a path and out of Vixen's nose.  
"Thanks." said Vixen gratefully.  
"I think I can see why you didn't do that yourself." replied Jean.  
"Brain anatomy was not one of the subjects I was taught either." added Vixen.  
"Well, we'll have to fix that." replied Jean with a smile.  
"I'm looking forward to it." replied Vixen smiling back, then her watch beeped.  
"Oh, I'm meeting Logan for a motorbike fixing session… Did you want to come?" asked Vixen, getting up.  
Jean looked thoughtful for a bit. "Does he know what happened yesterday?" she asked.  
"A bit. I had to cancel our sparring session this morning." replied Vixen. "Yes, you are different, but not that different." she added reassuringly.  
"Alright." replied Jean

"How could this be happening?" Cyclops asked himself aloud. Jean had left him, she wouldn't even speak to him... If he didn't get her back soon then Logan would swoop in and take her from him permanently... He had to find a way to get her back... That little bitch Vixen, this was all her fault, if she hadn't shown up... That was it! He had to get rid of Vixen, all his troubles stemmed from that Bitches arrival, her and Logan... Maybe Vixen's 'Company' would take Logan too... Then Jean would have to come back to him! Now to get in contact with them... Vixen's data... It would be in her room, and she had probably gone down to the garage with Logan... Cyclops headed into Vixen's room cautiously, found the USB stick and went back to his own room, taking care not to be spotted exiting Vixen's room. Back in his own room Cyclops grabbed his laptop and inserted the USB stick and started looking, some sort of address was what he needed... There, it was just in town, not far away at all. Cyclops copied the information he needed and removed the USB stick. Moving to Vixen's room again he returned it to where he had found it. Now to get rid of that pesky Bitch and her no good father once and for all...

"Jean!" said Logan looking surprised, he hadn't thought that she would be ready to see him yet, he thought she was still having difficulty with the fact that Cyclops would see it as a betrayal. Even after the bastard had been so cruel to him she'd still be thinking like that of him, it was one of the reasons that he loved her. "I invited her to join us with fixing the bikes, I hope you don't mind." said Vixen realising that she hadn't asked him first, or warned him. "Not at all." replied Logan. This was going to be a little awkward, but unlike he imagined Cyclops would, he would not be making any advances on Jean, she knew how he felt about her and when, if, she was ready he would be there, until then she was a friend, nothing more. "The more the merrier." he said. Vixen hid a grin, fairly certain that Logan would only say that about Jean, he doubted that Logan would like her adding anyone else to their motorbike fixing sessions. "What happened to that one?" Jean asked looking shocked pointing at Vixen's badly damaged bike. "I hit a tree..." replied Vixen looking a little sheepish, "The tree came off worse." added Logan. Jean looked appauled, "It was when I was first coming here." Vixen explained. "You were riding a motorbike in that state?" asked Jean. "I didn't have much choice." replied Vixen, "They're cheaper than cars... And I didn't have much money... They're also faster and more manoeverable." she added. "So this is what it feels like to try justifying a decision to a parent..." Vixen muttered under her breath, fairly certain given Logan's smile that he had heard her... "If I'd been less drugged I probably would have saved it, but even kinetics need time, and I didn't have good enough reactions in that state." Vixen added a little sadly, "It was a good bike." "I've never been on one..." replied Jean, with a hint of wistfulness. "Did you want to ride pillion on one this afternoon?" asked Logan, hearing that wistfulness, "There are two bikes that don't need to be worked on over there, we could go for a ride instead of fixing motorbikes..." he offered. "I could go up to the kitchen and get some snacks and we could picnic somewhere..." offered Vixen, latching onto the idea. "And absolutely no discussing complicated topics." she added, with a look at Jean. Jean smiled, "I would like that." she replied "Settled then." replied Logan. "Vixen can sort the food while we find a helmet and jacket for you." Logan added indicating that Jean precede him to the gear storage area.

Vixen was amused to note that Jean's indecision about Logan did not extend to riding with her, she was perched on the back of Logan's bike as she brought down the picnic basket. She very carefully didn't grin at how cute they looked together. She carefully strapped down the basket. "Do you want to lead?" Vixen asked Logan, "You know the area better." she added. "I know just the spot." replied Logan with a smile.

And Cyclops listened. Logan was using the motorbike that had been his. Which had a tracking device... Cyclops smiled. Now he wouldn't have to let the 'Company' into the school, Which made him feel better about it. He would have to come along to make sure that Jean didn't get hurt though... That would make this a bit more difficult, but at least he wasn't putting the students in harms way at all. Cyclops pulled out his phone... "I believe you and I have a common problem. By the name of Vixen..."


	16. Chapter 16

I'm sure I don't need to warn anyone that I dislike Cyclops, but it comes out rather strongly in this chapter...

The drive to Logan's proposed spot was a really good ride, with winding roads and amazing scenery. They took it slower than Vixen would have if she'd been on her own, she suspected that this was for Jean's benefit. Vixen smiled at the sight of Jean clinging to Logan's back. It was only a matter of time before they admitted that they were a couple at this rate, as long as Cyclops didn't mess things up. Vixen decided that she wasn't going to let that prick near her mother any time soon. He'd had his chance and he'd botched it through no working of Logan or herself. As much as she would have liked to separate that lowlife arrogant prick from her amazing mother. Well, he wasn't here and it didn't look like Jean was thinking about him at all today...

Cyclops growled to himself at the sight of Jean leaning against Logan's back. She'd never ridden with him on that bike, she hadn't expressed any interest at all when it was him... Maybe she deserved to be caught in this trap along with those other two... 'Follow them, and give us the location in GPS coordinates' the Company man had told him, so he was following, at a distance so they didn't notice. He was fairly certain he knew where they were going, he knew this area pretty well. It was a very pretty spot. A very romantic spot. He growled under his breath again, they'd only been separated for four days and already that underhanded bastard was making a move on Jean. Bastard. Well, he'd pay, along with that little bitch of a daughter of his. No too long now and they'd be stopping if they were going where he thought they were.

Exactly where Cyclops thought they were stopping Logan pulled over. Vixen pulling up neatly beside him. "What did you think?" Vixen asked Jean as they removed their helmets.

"Exhilarating!" replied Jean, eyes shining.

Vixen smiled, "I thought you might like it." she replied, trying very hard not to hint that it was Logan's company that she found more exhilarating. Though she thought that Jean might have either caught a hint of it or be thinking the same thing. But today was to be calm and relaxing... Though there was something at the edge of her mind urging caution, probably just leftover from the Company training to be constantly vigilant.

Good, exactly where I thought they'd stop. Thought Cyclops. He called in the coordinates, in return was given a set of coordinates to meet his current allies at.

Vixen and Logan moved the bikes off the road while Jean set up the picnic area. Soon the trio was sitting comfortably on blankets conversing about nothing and eating the delicious picnic food.

Cyclops met a command-looking group at the coordinates he'd been given. "Ah, Mr Summers I presume." said a particularly slimy sounding man.

"Yes." replied Cyclops shortly.

"I gather you had some sort of requirement about this endeavour of ours..." he said with a smile that didn't touch his hard dark eyes.

"The woman with them is my wife, I want your assurance that she will not be harmed, the man I don't care about, and assume you know. His name is Wolverine..." Cyclops replied sounding sure of himself.

"Ah, Logan, that is a relatively useful find. The woman would be Jean Grey then?" he asked.

"Yes." replied Cyclops, suddenly uncertain about whether he should have trusted these people.

"Is she still the reserved and repressed girl that your Professor made her?" he asked.

"The Professor would never repress anyone!" Cyclops almost yelled angrily moving toward the man.

The second he made the slightest step forward there were men on either side of him holding his arms "Ah, so she is then, good" replied the man slimily "Well, if that's all then I really have no use for you. Your 'gift' as you call it is unstable, noisy and ultimately useless. Why, if it weren't for that brilliant device covering your eyes then you'd only have two settings, on and off!" he said scathingly. "Your wife at least has significant power, even if it was locked away from her by your lovely Professor. Perhaps when we're done wiping your wife's mind then she'll join her daughter as our Mutant killing machine, she can kill so easily when her full power is unlocked, what a pity it isn't..." he added with an evil grin. Then he pulled out a knife. "There is only one way to deal with you Mutant freaks." he added as he slashed Cyclops throat from one side to the other, carefully standing to the side so none of the blood got on his clothes.

Back in the clearing, Jean froze. Cyclops was dead. She knew it as surely as she knew that Vixen and Logan had sensed something too, possibly something else. It was with only a tinge of regret though that Jean turned her mind to contacting the Professor. _ -Professor?-_ she called,

_-I know.-_ he replied with far more pain in his mindvoice than Jean felt. _-Are you alright?-_ he asked.

_-As far as I am concerned the man I married died some time ago.-_ replied Jean with a mental sigh of regret. _-I don't even know when he changed so drastically but it was probably some time ago. Maybe even dating back before Logan's arrival, though that did certainly speed the change.-_ she added.

_-Oh-_ was the professor's startled reply.

_-But back to more immediate concerns, I believe that Vixen's 'Company' may be the cause of Scott's death and are probably aiming to capture or eliminate the three of us. Don't bother sending anyone, we can handle them but keep an eye out for any attempt to attack the school while they're in the area.-_ Jean continued

_-I will keep a watch out, be careful Jean...-_ replied the Professor sounding worried.

"Someone just killed Scott." Jean said aloud.

"And we are being stalked." replied Logan.

"It's the Company." Added Vixen.

"Are you sure?" asked Logan.

"Certain. There's a particular smell to their gear, I think it's to do with how it's made or where they train." replied Vixen. They were speaking in hushed tones so as not to be overheard by the cautiously approaching Company soldiers.

"That shield you created around our sparring session..." said Logan.

"Already in place around us. The Company like shooting knockout darts." replied Vixen, "I believe I've made it strong enough that it will keep things that small out." she added.

"Any idea how many people they'll send?" asked Jean.

"Probably a small army." replied Vixen with a small shrug. "It won't be enough. I modified the shield so it mirrors anything shot at it back along the same path." she added. "When they figure that one out they'll try different, more lethal weapons then maybe move onto explosives."

"So we could stay here and wait or we could try stealth attacks." replied Logan.

"They may have drugged their weapons, there are drugs that stop our healing ability, and others that block the ability to concentrate so make using our other abilities harder. If they're smart they'll have those on most of their weapons"

"Well then, this might be a bit of a challenge then" replied Logan with a smile.


	17. Chapter 17

Some sections of this felt a bit lacking, sorry about that, I couldn't work out what it was I was missing and I think my muse refused to tell me out of sheer obstinacy. Sorry. This is however the final chapter of story I have for this tale, just a shortish epilogue to come then it's done and I'm letting it go. There is I suppose some potential for more but I doubt I'd write it very well so I'm leaving it here.

"How about you two hold off the masses while I go see about the head of the operations?" asked Vixen as the three of them waited for the confrontation to begin. "If we move around enough while fighting them off I should be able to slip off unnoticed." She added.

Jean clearly struggled to suppress the growing maternal feeling towards Vixen "I don't like you going off alone..." she said.

"One of us is going to have to." Replied Vixen "And since I have both your talents I'm the best of us for the job." She added.

"You're also the one they want." Retorted Logan_._

–_I can send someone to meet her at the spot that Scott was killed, I didn't know he was in the area until a few moments ago. He's not particularly fond of your Company either for some reason-_ Inserted Xavier.

"See, I won't be alone." Said Vixen, pouncing on her momentary advantage, though she had no idea who this new character was going to be, she had gotten the impression that the Professor only knew him from a distance but trusted him... to a degree anyway...

"Who exactly?" asked Logan.

_-Someone who knows you Logan. He's in one of your earliest clear memories as a young boy.-_ replied the Professor.

Logan appeared to be thinking hard for a few moments then "He's still around?" he asked.

–_Yes, I will see if I can warn him that he's going to have company_- replied the Professor.

Waiting for the attack to start was nerve wracking. But they all knew it was in their favour for their enemy not to know they knew they were there. "I hate waiting." Muttered Logan under his breath.

"I'm not fond of it either." Replied Jean and Vixen in unison. The trio shared a smile then all of a sudden there were darts in the shield.

"Show time." Said Logan with a smile. Vixen pulled out two long knives about the size of Logan's claws. Both Jean and Logan raised eyebrows but both decided not to get into why she had them and the appropriateness of weapons on the school grounds.

Vixen hid a smile at the identical expressions. "Don't worry, they hide in my room when I'm at the School." She assured her parents. Then the trio turned their attention to the attacking men. The trio moved like they had rehearsed, constantly moving so their enemy didn't notice when there was suddenly two fighters instead of three...

Vixen moved quietly, avoiding the troops waiting to be thrown at Jean and Logan... There were a lot of them... –_Jean, it seems their tactic is going to be to throw soldiers at you until you tire..._- she warned her mother in concern,

-_We'll cope, just concentrate on your own task.-_ replied Jean with a sense of gratitude at the warning and concern for Vixen attached to the words.

–_Yes Mother_- teased Vixen returning her full attention to finding the command centre. There... Well guarded as was to be expected. This was not going to be easy...

Jean was having a little difficulty with this. She didn't want to kill people who were just doing their jobs... It wasn't their fault that they were attacking her, they were only following orders... How could she kill them for that? They didn't really have a choice... Her distraction and attempts not to kill the soldiers hampered her ability to watch Logan's back. Not that he needed her too, or he wouldn't usually... Except that he was watching out for _her_... That was what he was doing when one of the soldiers got a lucky shot in, knocking Logan out cold.

"Logan!" Jean cried in genuine fear, worried that he might have been affected by the drugs that Vixen had mentioned. "Why must you do this?" she demanded of the soldier, her mind forcing the answer out of him.

"Filthy mutant, your kind are a disease on the Earth, you deserve to be purged." He replied, and Jean felt the assent of those around them. These men's minds were as disturbed as any minds Jean had ever met. This was their choice, their crusade to kill all mutants.

Jean's issues with killing them gone, her gift tore the men in their immediate vicinity into shreds as she bent over Logan. "Logan?" she asked "Please wake up..." she added sounding worried. Slowly Logan blinked, noting that Jean was hovered over him he reached up and pulled her close, fastening his mouth on hers for a moment.

"Little thing like that isn't going to stop me." He reassured her, Jean leaned in and kissed him again, her gift attacking the enemy soldiers without need for her conscious effort as she enjoyed the embrace she realised she had longed for almost since she met him.

Vixen watched the group before her, identifying the Commander and the sub commander, it was a little odd though, the men in general seemed to be unsure of how to react to the Commander, but clear about the command of the sub commander. Interesting... that put an interesting idea in Vixen's head, a way of dealing with the Company... If she could get rid of the others without killing the Commander guy...

Vixen was considering the ramifications of her current plan when she suddenly became aware of the presence of someone else, she spun quickly without moving the bush, prepared to attack if required. The man before her was definitely not a member of the Company, he wasn't in uniform for starters...

"I believe we have a mutual acquaintance and common enemy." He said, his French accent heightening the attraction caused by the man's definite good looks and clear self-confidence. Vixen took a moment to admire the man's dress sense, he had a classy-looking black leather jacket, dark trousers and vest over a deep blue shirt. He looked like he should be in a nightclub rather than in a forest watching soldiers...

"Potentially." Replied Vixen warily.

"Professor Xavier." He added.

Vixen relaxed a fraction then offered her hand, "I'm Vixen." She said. The man took her hand and kissed it

"Remy LeBeau, Gambit." He replied, Vixen felt him semi hypnotising her and shook it off,

"None of that," she said, "Not yet anyway." She added with a smirk.

"So were you going to bother with a plan?" asked Gambit.

"Not really. I want the Commander there alive, but unconscious. The rest should be dead one way or another." Replied Vixen, "Want the left half or the right?" she asked.

Gambit raised an eyebrow, "Just what is your gift?" he asked.

"Kinetics mostly." Replied Vixen.

"Mostly?" Gambit asked involuntarily.

"I can play with the molecular level." Replied Vixen, "A little telepathy too." She added.

"Molecular level?" asked Gambit.

"Yup. How about you?" replied Vixen,

"I just blow things up." He replied self-depreciatingly.

"How fun." Replied Vixen with a smile. "Shall we then?" she asked indicating the clearing full of people.

"Ladies first," he said with a bow.

"As you wish." She replied as she levelled one of the cars on the left of the clearing. He responded by blowing one up on the other side. Then the two of them moved into the clearing destroying the men there, leaving no one alive but the Commander, who had been hiding under a car since the start of the attack. "That it?" asked Vixen.

"Appears so." Replied Gambit.

"Good, can you watch out for more arrivals while I do this? Telepathy isn't my strong suit..." she asked as she knocked out the Commander and kinetically dragged him out of under the truck. Carefully she placed her hands on either side of his head as she gently invaded his mind. This would be easier with him unconscious...

"I guess that means I can't talk to her," muttered Gambit to himself as he admired the girl perched over the slimy-looking man in his overpriced suit. Gambit watched the edges of the clearing for any sign of movement but didn't see any. After a few minutes he realised that Vixen was going to be a while so he cleared up the clearing, there was a school just down the road after all, it wouldn't do to have all this ammunition lying around for kids to find. After he'd done that Gambit looked over the vehicles marking the ones that were of no use to him, he wouldn't blow them up just yet, that might startle Vixen out of whatever she was doing... He imagined that wasn't a good idea since she seemed to be playing in someone else's mind, not that he cared about the other mind, but who knows what that would do to hers.

There, that was done. Vixen came out of the disgusting man's mind with relief. "Done." She said with that relief evident in her voice. Vixen went to stand but her legs gave way, luckily Gambit was close enough to catch her.

"You've been in the same position for about an hour." He told her.

"Oh. That explains that." She said as she leant on him while stretching out her legs a bit. "We should hide in those bushes, he's going to wake soon, and I need him not to know that we saw him." Vixen said as she pushed him back under the car.

"Are you going to tell me what you were doing?" he asked.

"Maybe." Replied Vixen with a smile as they moved to the bushes and sat down, Vixen carefully massaging her legs.

"Are we letting him go?" Gambit whispered as they watched the odious man crawl out from under the car.

"Yes." Replied Vixen

"Is that wise?" asked Gambit.

"It is now." Replied Vixen with a smile. "He has things I need him to do."


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue: Because I couldn't resist...

One year later.

"Logan darling?" said Jean not standing from her place on the couch, one hand on her enlarged belly.

"The baby?" he asked.

"Contractions have started, yes." She replied.

"Should I call the midwife?" asked Vixen walking into the room.

"I don't think I need her..." Said Jean "I'm pretty sure your brother isn't coming out just yet." She added.

"Maybe I should get her in case he disagrees with you." Replied Vixen with a smile.

"Any sign of that boyfriend of yours?" asked Jean,

"Not ye..." Vixen stopped suddenly. Then darted out of the room.

"I take it he just arrived." Logan commented with a smile on his face as he moved over to his wife.

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the School...

"Remy!" cried Vixen as the bike stopped and Gambit dismounted while taking his helmet off in one smooth motion. Just in time for Vixen to kiss him passionately.

"I still don't know what you implanted into that Company man's mind but I think I like it. He's annexed another couple of anti-mutant companies since he took over and they're not hunting the pro-human mutant communities anymore." He said.

"That's pretty much it, with a few little extras that he shouldn't be aware of." Replied Vixen, "If you really wanted to know I'm sure you could have gotten me to tell you _somehow_." Vixen added suggestively.

"Maybe I will, for that little extra you just mentioned..." replied Gambit.

Later that evening Logan and Jean's first naturally conceived child was born. Jean named him Xavier Scott after the man that she had loved.

In another part of the school...

"Vixen, you ready?" Asked Remy, was it her imagination or did he sound a little nervous? Vixen checked herself in the mirror once more then emerged to the appreciative gaze of her boyfriend. Wait till he saw what was under her little black dress, she and Jean had bought some things just before Jean's wedding all those months ago that Vixen had been saving for a special occasion, their one year anniversary seemed like a special occasion to her... Remy took her arm, he was always such a gentleman and they went down to the car.

"You wouldn't tell me where we were going so I hope I'm dressed appropriately..." Vixen prodded

"Ah Ah, you're not getting it out of me that easily." Replied Gambit with a smile.

"Well I had to try." Replied Vixen.

"Of course Cherie, I would have been disappointed if you hadn't" he replied.

Gambit drove along a familiar route... "Are we going to where we met?" asked Vixen,

"Ah Cherie there's no hiding anything from you." He replied with a smile as he drove past the clearing they had met in.

"So no then." Replied Vixen with a smile.

Eventually they stopped at a log cabin off the beaten path so to speak. Stopping the car Remy opened the door for Vixen and had her close her eyes as he led her through the door Vixen could hear a fireplace and felt the warmth of the fire after the chill of the winter air of outside. She wanted to ask how the fire had stayed going but it seemed irrelevant, that wasn't what they were here for. "Can I open my eyes yet?" asked Vixen.

"Yes." Replied Gambit.

Vixen saw at once she was right about there being a fireplace, in front of it was a soft-looking rug, beside that was a table set for two with lit candles the only light. "Did you cook dinner?" she asked in delight as Gambit placed covered dishes at the two places. It was a smallish table so even sitting at opposite ends they would be able to touch each other.

"That I did." He replied as he took her coat and placed it on a hook by the door and pulled out the chair for her to be seated. Taking the cover off a delicious looking meal he took his place and the two of them ate in a companionable silence, enjoying the very well cooked food.

"I didn't know you could cook Beloved." Vixen said,

"There's a lot about me you don't know Cherie." Replied Gambit.

"Well, I have the rest of our lives to find out." Replied Vixen,

Gambit looked at her the hint of nervousness was back as he placed a small box on the table "We both do Cherie..." he said opening the box to reveal one of the most beautiful rings that Vixen had ever seen. Gently he took the ring from the box and Vixen placed her hand beside his so the ring could be placed on the correct finger, cementing her answer by embracing him in a passionate kiss that led to clothing mysteriously disappearing...

The End.


End file.
